The Return of the Wood
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: It had been several years since Christopher Robin said his farewells to Winnie the Pooh. But at some rate, everyone had to grow up. Christopher's family moved. More then once if I recall. We ended up as neighbors, and found the Hundred Acre Woods again.
1. The Return of the Wood

"What do you think Leslie Ann?" Christopher Robin asked after he finished painting part of a mural that the camp did every year.

"It looks fine." I insisted. "But you forgot a small section. There." I pointed to a barely noticeable spot on the mural that Christopher had missed.

"No one will notice."

"I will."

"Then that's one less person to worry about."

"Christopher Robin that is so rude of you to say!"

"Comes naturally to being your friend, I'm sure."

I gave that smart-ass a good punch on the shoulder. He laughed it away. I rolled my eyes at him; boys will be boys and the girls had to knock them into shape.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to a tree that had the phrase '100 acres' on it. Christopher Robin (when he chose to paint) painted the same things over and over again. But this was something I had never seen before.

"The Hundred Acre Tree?" I joked.

"No, you cheeky girl." Christopher laughed. "It's the Hundred Acre Wood."

"Bad pun?"

"Bad memory." he claimed. I looked at him with a side glance.

"Care to expand on the subject?"

He shook his head. "I'm not even sure if it is a memory. But when I was a kid... I would go to this place... it was like stuffed animals with a live rabbit and owl. But it's faint... I'm not sure if it really happened though."

"Is it like Narnia?" I said with a fake enthusiasm. "Where it appears only when you don't expect it too?"

"Maybe."

I think I gave the kid a brain explosion. He looked like he was thinking too hard. He was trying to hard to remember if what he was thinking about really was a memory or just something he had dreamed more then once.

"When are you going to paint your part of the mural?" Christopher asked when he snapped out of his trance.

"When you get out to the way!" I said giving him a shove. And he shoved me back.

After dinner, everyone in our cabin was to clean the dishes and clear the tables after dinner. The only ones remaining where Christopher and I.

"We need to get back to the cabins. It's getting dark." Christopher Robin said, looking out the window.

"Yeah. And with those woods, we might as well be walking into our own deaths."

"Awww..." Christopher said with a babyish tone. "Is the wittle gurl afrwaid of the big scary woods?"

"Only when it's thick enough that I can't see the cabin head lights through them."

"Understood." he said, voice returning to normal.

We walked through the thick woods with flashlights in our hands. We made sure to miss any stray rocks or branches that wanted to trip us; it was a long way to the nurse's cabin. We walked until the woods cleared and when they did, there were no cabins to be seen. I would love to say it looked familiar to me but it didn't. It was like the world that kids abandon when they grow up; the world of pretend.

"Christopher Robin, do you know where we are?"

"The Hundred Acre Wood."


	2. Welcome Back

"I haven't been here in years!" Christopher exclaimed. He was more happier then a kid in a candy store. But, then again, you would too if you were in the place where some of the best things in your life happened.

"Would you like to show me around?" I asked. To admit, I was a bit terrified and confused. Had I been here before? Or had Christopher Robin told me about this place so much that I actually recognized it enough to know it was the real deal. Impossible. I didn't know the kid until we were in 7th Grade.

He took hold of my hand and pulled me along with him, making sure that no stone was left unturned as he remembered everything.

"This is where I used to sleep." Christopher said showing me a small house that had been made in a tree. "I think it's still in perfect condition. I haven't touched anything in years. Come on." He led me into the small house.

As Christopher Robin showed me his 'room' two bouncing animals bounced by the house.

"Come on Roo, we told ol' Long Ears we'd help him with his garden." said a bouncing tiger-thing that had a spring in it's tail.

"I'm coming Tigger, I'm coming." said a joey.

As the joey bounced past Christopher Robin's tree, he could hear us yell,

"Look out it's going to fall!"

"Quick! Get out of the way!"

And then a loud crash could be heard.

"Tigger..." Roo said getting scared. "I think someone is in Christopher Robin's house."

"What?" Tigger said, going back to the direction Roo was. "That impos-a-bibble."

At the moment, you could hear Christopher and I arguing over who knocked over the Breakable.

"It's just a thing a girl would do."

"EXCUSE ME? I was NO WHERE near it!"

"Yes you where."

"No I was NOT!"

"Where too!"

"Where not!"

Then there was a knock on the door.

"Hellooooo? Is anyone... hoooome?" Tigger said timidly as he stuck his head through the door. Christopher Robin and I stood still, frozen as he looked at us. He shouted in surprise, grabbed Roo, and ran off.

"Should we follow him?" I asked. But Christopher was already out the door.

"It would be impossible for it to be Christopher Robin." a rabbit said after hearing Tigger and Roo's tale. "Christopher Robin is at school. Whatever that is."

"May-maybe Christopher Robin ha-has returned." Piglet said, in a usual studder.

"If it is Christopher Robin then he might not remember us. School could do that do you." Eeyore said gloomingly.

"But what if it was Christopher Robin?" Roo asked. One cue, over the hill came Christopher Robin and me lugging behind. We stood at the top of the hill for a long amount of time. I don't remember why, we just stood there. They could see us and we could see them.

"Christopher Robin!" they all decided to shout at the same time as they ran toward my friend. I stepped back and let them catch up.

There were a lot of questions and even more 'My, how much you have grown' sentences. I was completely ignored, as if I cared though. It was sweet to see everyone see each other again.

"Christopher Robin," Roo asked, tugging on Christopher's pants. "Who is that?" Roo pointed at me. Everyone turned to look at me and they tilted their hands to figure out who I was.

"This is Leslie Ann. My friend." Christopher said getting behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders. Now, it was my turn to be greeted into the Hundred Acre Wood. This took several minutes and when we were done Roo's mother, Kanga had baked cookies.

"Here you go dears. Straight out of the oven." Kanga said handing out a plate filled with chocolate chip cookies.

"Thank you Kanga." everyone said and we all took a cookie. While everyone ate theirs, I stared at mine.

"Food allergies?" Christopher guessed when he saw me glare at the cookie. I nodded.

"I can't tell whether it's semi-sweet chocolate or milk chocolate."

"I'll eat it for you."

"Thanks." I said as I handed him the cookie. I sat and waited until everyone was done. After that every went their own ways, except for Pooh bear and Piglet who stood behind with us. They were trying to explain the concept of 'Pooh Sticks' to me.

"It's that simple." Christopher Robin said after drawing a diagram in the dirt. I was still unsure about the game.

"C'mon, I'll show you." he said taking my hand. We ended up playing a game of Pooh Sticks, with Christopher Robin and I on the same team. It took several minutes but I found that I enjoyed the game quite a bit. We played several rounds of the game before Pooh Bear declared it was snack time.


	3. A Place Only We Know

"What do you think about the Hundred Acre Wood, Leslie?" Christopher asked as we sat under a huge tree. The sky was about to turn a lovely shade of pink.

"It's... different. The place itself is like visiting a long lost friend in a way."

"How do you like it?" he said, getting closer. I looked at him.

"It's wonderful." I said with a smile.

"You know..." he said after a while, "There's one place I haven't shown you yet."

I playfully groaned.

"You took me everywhere! How could there be another place you haven't shown me yet?"

But, nonetheless he took my hand and led me to where ever he wanted he wanted to show me.

"It's hidden. But I think you'll like it." he said, tugging me by the hand. And hidden behind a strew of vines, was a romantic little spot that only possessed one tree. An apple tree with the apples perfect for picking.

"Pooh and I used to come here sometimes." he said, almost to himself. I looked at him and a playful smile came from my mouth.

"Are you gay? Or where you born a girl and your parents give you a gender change because they wanted you to be a boy?" I joked. "If so, then I'm a gay just for loving you."

He laughed a bit.

"No. And no. However, I'm pleased to hear that you love me. Because I was thinking the same thing about you."

I could feel my cheeks grow red. We've known each other for too long, we knew everything about each other. Many people assumed we were already together. Half of the class bet that we had slept with each other. I hate modern ideas.

"Care that we take a dance underneath the tree of the forbidden fruit, and let only the stars be our witnesses." Christopher Robin offered.

"It would be a dishonor to say no to such a wonderful and polite gentleman." I said. He then led me in a dance. A slow one, the kind that makes you say 'aww' in the movie theater. What makes chick flicks, chick flicks. I would also like to say that we were alone on that spot. With no one to care for but ourselves. But then it wouldn't be true. We were being spyed on by Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Rabbit.

"I-I-I've n-n-never seen Chris-Christopher R-r-robin s-s-so happy b-b-before." Piglet said.

"Think. Think. Think, think, think." Pooh Bear quietly said, as he did the familiar gesture he did when he thought hard.

"What are you thinking about Pooh Bear?" Rabbit asked.

"If Christopher Robin is bigger then what he was, and he is smarter because of school, and doing something that he once found horrible, does that mean that he is grown up now?"

No one answered Pooh Bear's theory, but looked at me and Christopher Robin instead.

"Christopher Robin, your friends are staring at me." I whispered. Christopher Robin looked at them too, and then back at me. He smiled warmly.

"They might want to see this." he said. He then gave me a small kiss.

"Whoa." I said, after coming out of the kiss, "You are an epic kisser."

"Epic's good right?" he asked with a smile.

"The best of the best." I told him, and then gave him another kiss in return.

We stayed in our Special Place for a long time. At some time we ended up going asleep and woke up to find that it was completely dark outside.

"Christopher Robin we have to get back to camp." I told him when I realized what time it was. "It's bad enough that we were at camp one moment, and then here with the sun out, but now the sun's down here."

"So?" he asked.  
>"Think about it Christopher Robin!" I told him. "If it was dark at camp, but light when we got here then time must be reversed then what it is back at camp. If it is dark here, then back at camp it would be..."<p>

"Day time!" Christopher said, finally getting the idea.

"We have to get back to camp now!" we said together.

"How are we going to do that?" I asked him.

Christopher Robin, the only one of us that knew this place inside and out, shrugged as if he didn't have a clue on what to do.


	4. Christopher's Depression

If you want to know how we got back to camp, then I wouldn't have been the one to explain it to you. All we did was go back to the spot we first appeared in, and the next moment we were back at camp with the sun over our heads. With our unannounced departure from at camp, the counselors had nearly called the cops, and fellow campers thought that we had done It. What else could have two teenagers, that had known each other since forever, do alone in the woods at night?

We survived the rest of the summer with everyone making fun of us. We even got past the first semester of school with all the rumors and name calling. I was the only one of us at the time to have other friends, so I spent most of my time with them. Just to ignore the rumors everyone said about us. Christopher Robin on the other hand... started to face a mega depression. And I wasn't too worried about it (since he was the one that usually ended up cheering me up), but when I called his house and no one would answer, I started to panic. At the end of the first or second school week, he didn't show up at school at all, and so my panic became full grown fear.

"Pick up Christopher. Pick up the phone." I said into the phone as I heard it ring. Each ring reminded me that he was either trying to ignore me, or no where near the phone. I hated it.

"Leslie Ann, is that you?" Christopher Robin's mother asked. "I was just about to call you too!"

"Mrs. Milne, can I talk to Christopher Robin?"

"I'm sorry dear, but Christopher is sleeping now."

"Sleeping?" I asked in a near shout. It was well past lunch, and that kid was always up for the entire day no matter how late he was up the night before. "Can I come over when he wakes up?"

"I do not think so dear. I think you should stay at your house and have some you-time while Christopher feels better."

"But I can come over and make his laugh. Laughter is the best medicine you know!"

Christopher Robin's mother laughed. That had always been my excuse when I wanted to see my friend when he was sick.

"I do not think that laughter can help Christopher Robin this time sweetie." his mother said, her voice being serious.

Then I was reminded of the damn depression.

"When do you think I can come over?" I asked.

"When Christopher feels better dear." and she hung up the phone. I couldn't help but give a frustrated scream.

"Honey are you alright?" my mother asked as she rushed into the room.

"Yeah." I lied, wiping away a small tear that was forming at the corner of my eye.

"By the pitch of that scream, I'd say something was wrong." she said.

"Nothing is wrong Mom." I insisted. But she came over to me and gave me a hug any way, and I started to cry. It was like Christopher Robin was going to die, although I have to admit he was far from doing so. But, it was kind of like he was in the type of depression that pushes the person to commit suicide or something.

I made my mind up then; I was going to go back to the Hundred Acre Wood and bring Winnie the Pooh back home with me. I was going to make Christopher Robin happy again if it was the last thing I ever did. But the only problem was, I didn't know how to do that.

I could not go to sleep at all that night. So I stayed in my bedroom until I noticed something next door; there was a light on at Christopher Robin's house, and it was on in his room. Quickly, I ran outside without my shoes on, picked up a few rocks from the family garden, and then started to ping them against Christopher Robin's window. He must have heard it, because Christopher Robin opened his window and looked out.

"Leslie Ann?" he asked when he saw me. "It's 11:23 in the evening, what are you doing up?"

"What are you doing up?"

Score one for the cheeky American girl.

"Stay there, I'll unlock the door." he instructed.

"Where else am I supposed to go? Back home? Ha!" I said back before his face disappeared from the window.

When Christopher Robin opened his front door, I could help but gasp at him. His eyes had dark circles around them. He was so pale, and his smile was like a jack-o-lantern's smile after it was left out well after Halloween.

"Do I really look that bad?" Christopher asked with a smile. I nodded my head, with my eyes wide.

"You have to go back to the Hundred Acre Wood. We left without saying good-bye, and they need you Christopher Robin."

"But I can't Leslie Ann, I can't go back." Christopher stated, sadness coming over his voice like a deadly virus.

"Please don't cry." I begged, "If you start to cry, I'll start to cry. Then we're going to wake up both of your parents and I'll have to go back home."

Christopher Robin nodded his head, and dried any tears that were going to form to prevent my seeing them.

"I don't know what I'd do with out you Leslie Ann."

"You wouldn't be stuck in a mess like this, I'm sure."

"Maybe not," he admitted, "But you've taken me back to the place I want to be the most."

I couldn't help but smile.

"But how are we going to get back there?" Christopher Robin asked.

"How did we get back there the first time?" I asked back.

"I only thought about you." Christopher said, thinking hard, "And the woods we were in, and getting out of them."

I thought about what I was thinking when we were in the camp woods. I wasn't thinking anything except for not losing Christopher Robin in the woods, they were too deep for anyone to get lost in.

"What were you thinking about?" Christopher asked.

"The same thing you were." I told him. "However, now I'm wondering if we can get away with the Door Trick."

"What's the Door Trick?"

"In Twitches, a movie about twin witches, all they had to do was think about the location they wanted to go to, open a door, and they were at the location."

"It can't be that easy."

"You've never tried."

Score two for the cheeky American girl.

"We'll try it." Christopher Robin said, determined.


	5. Forever and Ever

"I hope your idea works Leslie Ann." Christopher Robin said as we stood in front of the only wooden door in my house; the pantry door.

"I do too." I said, nearly crossing my fingers with hope. Was it of any use, we were about to find out.

"One for the money," Christopher Robin started,

"Two for the show," I continued,

"Three to get ready," Christopher Robin said back,

"And away we go!" I said as we opened the pantry door and walked in. I had closed my eyes in fear of what to see.

"Is it safe to look?" I asked. Christopher Robin didn't respond.

"Christopher?" I asked, still not looking. "Christopher Robin?"

Without instruction I opened my eyes any way. Quite naturally, at what I saw, I couldn't help but give a satisfied smile.

"Leslie Ann, you are a genius." I said to myself. We were back at the Hundred Acre Woods, and Christopher Robin had ditched me in a mad dash to find Winnie the Pooh again. I was alone.

"Hello there." a friendly voice said. "What are doing here?"

I looked all around me to see where the voice came from. Above my head (quite literally, I would imagine) was a little blue bird.

"I brought Christopher Robin back, but he left me to see Winnie the Pooh."

"I've never met Christopher Robin." the blue bird admitted. "He went to school before I came along. But Rabbit told me a lot about him though."

I offered one of my fingers for the bird to perch on, and she sat down comfortably. I sat down on the grass and got comfortable myself.

"By the way," the bird continued to say, "What's you name?"

"Leslie Ann." I told her. "What's yours?"

"Kessie." the bird said. "Can you tell me more about Christopher Robin? If it isn't a burden to you of course. I do not think Rabbit told me EVERYTHING about him, but he sounds wonderful."

"Well," I admitted, as I lay down on the grass, "Christopher Robin is a boy, and we know that means that he'll act like one too."

Kessie laughed at my joke. I hated Christopher Robin as much as I loved him, and I told Kessie that. Kessie laughed some more, her laughs reminded me of birds tweeting sweetly at each other.

"Can you tell me more?" Kessie asked. I gave a devious little smile.

"Oh, would I ever." I told her.

For five minutes we talked about Christopher Robin, and I cleared up and rumors about him. And I may have started some new ones while I was at it...

"Are you girls having fun?" Christopher Robin asked when he came back.

Kessie and I looked at him.

"Yes, yes we are." I said. Kessie started to laugh at Christopher Robin.

"What did you say about me?" he asked me.

"Nothing that hasn't been said that the lunch table." I told him. He looked at me like he was trying to make me feel guilty, but instead he looked like he thought it was funny.

"I've got to go now." Kessie told me. "Nice to talk with you."

She then looked at Christopher Robin, laughed, then flew away.

"So..." I said, rolling my eyes a little, "What do we do now?"

"Come back every day, have fun, get Pooh unstuck, enjoy some of Kanga's cookies."

"In words, never grow up here?"

"Exactly."

"Bring it."


End file.
